Encyclopedia Miscellaneous – 'quality' blogging since August 2011

Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons 01

I decided to have a photo project going throughout 2015 – a blogging event, a monthly photo challenge. One time per month (on the 7th), I’ll be posting a gallery containing 10-20 pictures from Oslo’s city center.

I’d like you to join me on this project: Find a location near your home, take somewhere between 5-20 photos and post them in a gallery in your blog. Continue to do this every month. For my project I’ve chosen the general area “downtown Oslo”, but if you like to, you can choose a more specific area like a park or a building. It doesn’t even have to be a city. If you live on the countryside, there’s probably plenty of locations to choose from nearby: a field with some trees, a beach, a mountain, or just a simple dirt road? It can be whatever. Just keep the project going throughout the year. Try to shoot every month, so that in the end of the year, you’ll have a nice and diverse set of photos in your portfolio. The idea is to capture all the changes: the seasons, the weather, different times of the day, some night photography perhaps?
Also, the idea is to build your portfolio and train your eye. I shot the photos in my gallery in December and next month I’ll post a gallery with photos I’ll take this month (I haven’t shot them yet).

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221 thoughts on “Monthly Photo Challenge: The Changing Seasons 01”

Lovely set of shots, Cardinal. Brilliant capture of the reflections in the water. Those kinds of shots always eclipse me. Then again, I stay indoors when it’s wet. From your photos it feels like there’s lots of life in Oslo during winter – maybe it’s the lights, or the everyone out and about enjoying the festive season.

Good luck with the challenge. Looking forward to seeing more of your town this year.

Thanks Mabel. It’s a good opportunity for me to show more of my city and this also forces me to go out there and shoot new stuff each month. Hopefully people will join the challenge, so that we get to see othe places too.

That is a wonderful idea and one I am delighted to join in. I know of someone who shot the same place for 365 days and was fascinated by that. Well, now you give me the opportunity to practice and learn more. Thanks.

And about your photos. It is magic. It is stunning. It is arty. It is your eye capturing beauty in whatever season and weather condition and making it an unforgettable image. It is always a pleasure to see your work. Thanks.

That sounds excellent Alastair! I once did a tree next to our old apartment, followed it through the seasons, but I wasn’t following it regularly, so I lost out on a lot of good shots / got some huge time gaps.

Neat idea Cardinal! I would love to join in, just need to think of a location.
I love your shots, especially those 6 at the end, taken down the street between two sets of buildings, with the red sky – stunning.

Gorgeous shots! I especially love the reflections in the puddle and the ghost ice skaters! Presume these are all using a tripod? May I know what gear you used? Sounds like a great event to join🙂 Just need to think of the right location.

Awesome that you’ll join! The more the merrier!
For the ice skating shots I used the wooden railing (that you can see in one of the photos) for support. The others are shot handheld with my Canon 600D using my 24-105mm lens.

Two places is a good idea for you since you’re changing spots. It’s always nice with some changes. The harbor looks very nice and it’ll definitely be an interesting place to follow. The seasons by the water is just wonderful.

I would so love to join in on this challenge, but with my backyard changing all the time, the only consistent scene is my boat, and that gets pretty boring to photograph after awhile. Still, I’ll watch this space to see what others submit and join in the fun when I drop anchor on a more permanent basis.

This challenge sounds quite interesting. I’m thinking about joining you. I’m doing a 365-Photo Challenge so not sure how it would work to do both of these, but to be honest, this sounds like a lot of fun. And by the way, your photos are beautiful!

Hi Justine. You can post your gallery whenever you want and when it suits you. If you want to post it this month, it’s fine. If you feel like waiting till next month, that’s fine too. I was thinking that it’s nice if people post their galleries around the same time, so I’ve suggested between the 07-15th each month, but the rules aren’t carved out in stone.

thats greawt, trying to work out when i am on holiday and i spend three weeks at a pain clinic so wont be going anywhere then, looks like at least one month will be missed, gggrrr haha, odd working out posts for the entire year!

great shots, Cardinal… that reflection in the puddle is awesome…
and a great idea for a challenge… I’lll follow it closely to see more of beautiful Oslo🙂
may try to join in, though not on a regular basis…

Nice idea! I think I will try to join in on this one from next month onwards. Was thinking about some kind of season project anyway!🙂 My pictures will be from the second half of January only as I am not home at the moment but I think that should be fine as well😉

Great project–a few years ago I started doing that from one of my windows, but didn’t keep at it. I’d like to join. Can we dive into the idea at any time? I’m thinking that I would start in February or March. Since I am closing in on my space limit of WP, I must decide what to do. Could we do up to 20 photos? That is, can I do 2. It’s really a space issue now. That will change, once I decide what to do. Thanks.

Hi. Yes, you can dive in at any time and jump out whenever you want to. I’m not a big fan of too many rules! If you’re closing in on storage space, I suggest that you start a secondary blog and name it something similar like lensandpensbysally2015.wordpress.com. Then you can use that blog to upload media/photos and keep posting in your main-blog. Just keep all the media files in your secondary blog. You can also link images from flickr to save space.

I worry that if I start a new blog that I will not be able to take my Followers with me. I’m not clear how that would work. Also I’m not sure about maintaining more than one site. My mission is to combine lens and pens. I do appreciate your thoughtful response.

You start a new blog, but you don’t write anything in it: you only use it to store photos.
You continue to write posts in your current blog, but the photos that you add is actually stored in your new blog.
Let’s say you named your “new” blog like I suggested: lensandpensbysally2015.

I’ve seen a project a bit similar, but on the very long term, it was a 365 days project. And the guy shot the same tree during these days and after, he made a video with all the frames. It was incredible. It’s a bit the same concept. We see a place, with different seasons and colours. It’s nice !

I hope you don’t mind that I have joined your challenge and posted a photo gallery on my blog. Your photos are beautiful and I can’t wait to see more. I am a novice but have found that I really like taking photos and am learning as I go. Thanks for coming up with this challenge idea.

I would like to join you in this project if I can. I don’t mean “if I may” but “if I can” – it challenges me specifically because the place that I live shows less signs of seasonal change than most – we have no trees, for instance, so no buds to burst into leaf and no leaves to turn to glorious autumn colours. It intrigues me to see what I might come up with, and if I look more closely for changes if I might actually see more and notice what has previously gone unnoticed. I shall be taking the whole of my small island for my locale.

All I could think after seeing your photos was how talented you are. They are just stunning. The reflection in the puddle is amazing. I may try to join this- interesting idea to see the same spot change. Just need to find an interesting place nearby!

I didn’t know about this challenge till I saw Paula’s response this morning, Cardinal. It’s an excellent idea and your shots are superb. The second shot is my winner 🙂 You always have to be in just the right place at the right time, don’t you?

I wish I could be at the right place at the right time always, but unfortunately I’m mostly at work!😀
Anyway, now, because of this challenge, I have to make sure to spend some time downtown with my camera, so I’m more likely to be at the right place at the right time.

I just spotted you have the links straight on the front of your post, are you manually putting them in each time? Thats almost better than the InLinkz as i find that doesnt show them on the front page ie the post page i wish it would x

Your shots are amazing! I will join you with the challenge even though my photos are amateurish in comparison. It will be interesting to see the changes of the season in the same places throughout the year.

You have a great eye Cardinal. I love your street photos especially the first two with the reflection and the last two with the sky! I quite like the challenge of the same place over the year so tomorrow (weather permitting) I shall head up to the market square and grab some new photos for this challenge! Better late than never…😀
Jude xx

I was sure I’d already added my “two cents.” I discovered this rather late, but I hope I’m not TOO late. Because it seems like such a great idea. We can all watch each others’ worlds change, month by month.

Anyway, my ping back did not ping and my comment seems to have vanished without a trace, so here’s a link: http://teepee12.com/2015/01/22/bright-january-skies/ And thanks for always making pictures I wish were mine and hosting a challenge that will be fun for everyone.

Hi Cardinal Guzman! Is it too late to jump in? My friend, Joanne, just posted her beautiful shots of Scarborough Bluffs and I’m inspired. What a great idea. It’s so late in January maybe I’ll just start in February. Is that okay?

I’m still learning and do not yet have a proper camera, but thought I’d give it a shot. I’m not sure how it will work out to go back to the same area, but I will try. Love the idea of capturing the seasons through the photos!